


New World

by AbelardTullus



Category: Half-Life, Portal (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 07:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16192913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbelardTullus/pseuds/AbelardTullus
Summary: White Forest is greeted with a familiar visitor who isn't one for words, but with her knowledge of Aperture, she's invaluable, but uncooperative, maybe Alyx can coerce her into helping the resistance.First time posting a fic! Might be hot garbage! Pacing is not my forte, but damnit if I don't want more Chell/Alyx stuff.





	1. The Guest

_For the sake of this story, Portal 1 took place after Half-Life 1, during or not long after the 7 Hour War. Portal 2 ended under a year before Gordon Freeman’s return._

 

* * *

  
The door opened to a field, the sunlight blinding her for the first time in decades, her eyes peered out, greeted by the vast field of wheat before her. Her pristine white boots, stained by soil for the first time in it’s long existence, the world was enormous, unyielding, and bright. The door slammed behind her, and her paranoia jumped and she twirled in fear, only to be met with the pathetic shed she had exited. Then the door opened again, and spat out a burnt companion cube, slamming itself once again.  
She waited.  
Surely there must be more to this.  
A trap.  
A trick.  
Something.  
Yet nothing.

“Finally.”  
  


* * *

  
“Wakey wakey Alyx, we’re here!”

Her eyes creaked open, bleary and tired, exhaling at how dry her mouth was, and held her head. Trips to the White Forest were usually long, arduous, and more often than not, not worth it. It’s miracle enough that they’d found a working pickup truck, just a shame the driver was an unsympathetic dick. Way out here, the Combine couldn’t care less, safe in the ignorance that they could continue their genocide within the prisons they called ‘Cities’.

 

She rubbed her left eye, “What time is it?”  
The driver adjusted his rear-view, “’bout quarter to 10”  
Alyx held her head, a 10 hour nap? She was more sleepy than she thought. She looked up in a startled realisation, and shot another question “How the hell did we make it here with 10 hours of no interruptions?”  
“Beats me, maybe the patrols have been extra sensitive for our guest.”

 

The guest. Apparently she was from America, had escaped all the way from Aperture Science of all places, she was lucky enough to have found an encampment that could connect her all the way to White Forest.

 

The welcoming party opened up the garage door, allowing Cameron to park inside, Eli opened the door in time to see Alyx jump out from the back, they couldn’t help but smile to see each other again, Alyx rushing to hug him, his old arms wrapped around her, “Hey there sweetie, did you have a safe trip?”.  
Alyx pulled away for a moment “Safe enough, managed to sleep longer than I have in my life”.  
“Good, good” he chuckled, and shifted his hand to her back, leading her through the door and down the hallway.  
“How’s Magnusson, cranky as ever?” Alyx queried with a smile.  
Eli looked to the ground “Oof, less said the better”.  
She giggled and looked the floor as well.

 

They stopped at the door, with Eli turning to her, “Now, about our guest-”  
Alyx put her hand on his arm “I know dad, she’s been through a lot, I’ll be careful.”  
He took her hand off him and held her other, holding them between each other “Nono, it’s not about that.” he sighed, “She’s been… fairly uncooperative, only really spoken when necessary, whether what’s happened at Aperture traumatised her, or what was above made it worse. I’m not quite the charmer I used to be, but you certainly are. If I can’t get her to help us, I know you can” he let go of her hands to hold her shoulders, “she might know far more about Aperture than anything else we have, we might even get an advantage over the Combine this way.”  
Alyx sighed, and put her hand on top of one of his, “Ok then”.

 

Eli opened the door, inviting Alyx into the living room, before her was a woman sat on the couch, leaning forward with her hands clasped together, with the torso of her jumpsuit tied around her waist, a tanktop brazen with the Aperture Science name and logo, her hair in a ponytail, and wearing strange muddied boots, like high heels, but with a spring on the back, it almost looked surgically attached. The rebel stood at the door and couldn’t help but stare for a moment, the guest stared straight back with tired eyes, god only knows how exhausted she could be. For now, there was only an uncomfortable silence between the 2. “Can I get you anything? Cup of tea? Coffee?”, the guest stared straight back, Alyx had never felt an awkwardness quite like this before.

 

If she wasn’t going to say anything, Alyx might as well make a move, fetching her favourite mug and some coffee, turning on the kettle with enough water for two, she held the tea and coffee pots in both hands, and turned to her guest, raising one, and then the other. She pointed to the coffee. Some progress, better than nothing.  
She held up some milk too as an offering.  
She shook her head.  
‘Ok, so two black coffees then’.

 

Alyx looked deep into the brewing coffee mugs, her mind anxious for ideas of what to ask her to, what would help her talk, socialising was never her greatest strength, but she at least tried, but this felt… different. Whoever this woman was, she’d clearly been through a hell of a lot, it’s bad enough to find out the world you fell in love with is now a hell-scape of genocide and inhumanity, maybe humanity was what she needed. She’s a person, not a rebel, not an alien, not some cybernetically enhanced combine freak, she’s human.

 

She stared at her guest some more, with no idea how to even start the conversation, best she could do was give her the cup of coffee and hope for the best. She sat down next to her, her guest holding the coffee with both hands, feeling its warmth. Alyx couldn’t help but look at her, she had no idea what to make of her, but if she was going to get anywhere, she might as well start with basics.  
“I’m Alyx Vance, I’m the daughter of the man you saw earlier. What’s your name?”, ‘good question Alyx, really selling the awkward vibe even more’.  
The guest took a swig of her coffee, finishing it in one go. Alyx stared wide-eyed as she did. The guest exhaled, “Che-” she coughed “Chell”.  
Alyx stared more, and maintained eye contact while drinking some of her coffee. “So… Chell.”  
“Yeah” Chell turned to look at her, her tired eyes opening a bit more.  
The rebel couldn’t look away from her. How do you follow that up? “Do you… know anything that could help us?”  
She wiped her lips with her hand “Probably not.”

 

Being sat together on the couch like this, Chell still leaning forward, Alyx set at an almost uncomfortable distance from her. She sighed, “Ok, I’ll level with you, I don’t know how to talk to you about this, you seem like you’ve been through a hell of a lot, and… I’ve had my fair share, but you must’ve been through something else entirely.”  
Chell was silent, inspecting Alyx’s mildly confused visage, her eyes darting for details on the rebel. “The Combine are horrific and… terrifying, but at least they’re not a genocidal manmade AI, that’s all I’m gonna say.”  
Alyx stared wide-eyed again. “How...” she could only utter.  
“Put it this way, I’m tenacious.”

 

She kept staring.  
All the times she’d found her way out of City 17, across canals of corrosive acid, fought countless zombies, tangled with so many soldiers, but she always had help, always an outpost of people, some food available, organic and friendly. But to live entirely on your own, under the oppressive watch of an AI, for decades, no food, no human faces, living off whatever you can, and… genocidal. That word rung in her head.  
Did this AI kill off everyone inside Aperture? It doesn’t sound like Chell wants to talk about it anyway.

 

Alyx managed to tear her gaze away to look at the floor and contemplate for a moment more, before raising her mug “Do you want another?”.  
“No thanks” she muttered.  
Was there anywhere to take this conversation next, clearly she didn’t want to open up, nor did she seem interested in helping much. Alyx got up to put their mugs on a tray to wash up later, and looked back to Chell, all things considered, she wasn’t hard to look at… pretty even.  
The woman on the couch looked away, “There’s nothing else I can tell you really… or want to tell you”, her eyes sang of something solemn.

 

The rebel bit her lip, and surrendered “You… don’t have to join us.”

 

Chell sat up in shock, her eyes trained on Alyx, “What do you mean?”  
She exhaled, brushing her hand over her hair “This must already be too much for you, and...” she looked down to the floor, her heart heavy, “not many people these days get to just… live”, her eyes realigned with Chell “I don’t know how much you’ve suffered, but you deserve a life to call your own”.

 

Her entire journey was spent hearing of how horrible the world was, that the rebels needed all the help they could get, of how she could do something, serve a cause.  
  


* * *

  
“Lass, where ya gettin’ off at?”  
“France.”  
“France? That’d be uh… City 4, right?”  
“Sure.”  
“Ya know, saw ya clear a pretty damn high wall earlier, ya’d make a good scout for us.”  
“...”  
“Woman a yer skills, ya could probably make any Citadel look like a joke!”  
“...”

 

“We’ve been in these tunnels for days, how many more fucking antlions are we gonna find, what are you good for, scout!?”  
“I’m not a scout.”  
“Yah, sure ya aren’t”  
“I’m not.”  
“Fine. Whatever.”

 

“Thought that gate was shut fer sure, how’d ya manage?”  
“Electrical system was faulty, rewired it”  
“You- you rewired it? That’d take days, how the hell’d ya-”  
“I have to go.”  
“No wait! You’d do well for us! We need a mechani-”  
  


* * *

  
‘All this time. Spent hearing how they’d benefit, what they need. I need time, I can’t throw myself back out there. I’m not ready… I’m not ready’

 

Chell held her head in her hands, with Alyx having crouched in front of her, her hands on her shoulders to comfort her. “You don’t have to be with us”, she repeated, Alyx looked off to consider how she could make this work “I’m sure there’s something you could do around here, you don’t… have to actively do anything for us, but I don’t know how long you’ll be able to recover for.”

 

Chell sniffled, catching Alyx’s attention, “Hey… hey”, she moved her hands from her shoulders to the sides of her head, “It’ll be ok”. She revealed her face again, eyes red, just on the verge of tears, “Will it be?”  
“Yes”  
“Can you even promise me that?”  
“...no, but I can try, for you.”  
She looked to Alyx for a moment longer, before diving in to hug her, her arms wrapped tightly around her, her head comfortably rested on her shoulders. It took a moment before she could pull her arms around Chell, and carefully rub her back, as she sniffled more, “I know… I know...”.

 

Chell pushed her face gently into Alyx’s shoulder to dry her tears. For the first time in years, she was being told to just live, that it’d be ok, to finally be more than a test subject, or to do what’s right. “I couldn’t care” she began between deep hasty breaths, “if it’s a mistake not to help these people”, another deep breath “I just want someone to care.”

 

Maybe it was wrong, she worried that she was taking advantage of what she wanted, when she’s this vulnerable, and this desperate. In her heart though, she knew she could never turn down someone in need, not like this.

 

“Then I’m here.”

Chell pulled away for a moment, slowly, to look at Alyx, face to face.

“I’m here” she repeated.

 

Alyx looked deep into those teary eyes of hers, and saw so much, too much, she couldn’t have known what happened in Aperture, but she did, all too well.

Chell only saw the eyes of a woman who’d seen hell from her youth to where she is now, too much misery, too many sob stories, and could pull a smile anyway.

 

“Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”  
  


Their hug resumed, tighter than ever, Chell’s tears running down her face finally, and Alyx bearing some of her own. “How the hell have you done this to me” Chell managed to chuckle in her tears.  
“Don’t ask me, you just deserve love” Alyx replied.  
“Is that what this is?”  
“Depends if it’s platonic to you or not” she giggled.  
“I… wanna wait before I can say”  
“That’s ok. But if you don’t mind me saying, you’re… really pretty”  
Chell couldn’t help but laugh at that, snorting a bit, “You’re really pretty yourself”.


	2. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alyx returns to White Forest, much to the surprise and excitement of Chell.

The radio fizzled to life, gently lighting the table it was sat on, the static cleared briefly, to hear it’s message.  
“Black Mesa East to White Forest! We’ve been compromised, Gordon Freeman is gone to god knows where, and Eli Vance has been taken!”  
Chell shivered.  
‘Could I have done something?’  
“We don’t know where Alyx went, she said she’d take the tunnels leading to Nova Prospekt!”  
The radios static returned to cause earache, she desperately tried to adjust it, to hear anything more out of it, and was blessed to hear more.  
“She wanted to pass this on too! Tell Chell ‘I love you’!”  
Her heart skipped a beat.  
“Black Mesa East to Whi-” the radio died. Returning to it’s static.  
Chell had simply frozen.  
Her lips quivered until she finally spoke “I love you too.”  
  


* * *

  
Alyx gave a hearty laugh, “Beat ya to it, Dog!”, Gordon hit the brakes at the entrance, with Dog not far behind sounding a sad whine, “Better luck next time boy”.  
An entourage had gathered to greet them, if knowing Gordon and Alyx were coming wasn’t exciting enough, hearing Dog charging up across the valley meant something crazy was going to happen. A rebel with an AR2 greeted them, helping Gordon out of the car “Good to meet you Dr. Freeman, things are gonna get a hell of a lot easier with you here”, and turned to nod to his companion.  
Alyx gave a small smile, but had to ask before anything else “Is Chell ok?”  
He grimaced, and looked away for a moment but returned his gaze to her “She’s been pretty shaken up since the incident at Black Mesa East, but…”, but before he could finish, a tall woman, adorned with a ponytail, wearing a her own Black Mesa hoodie tied around her waist with a loose green t-shirt tucked into it, turned around the corner. Alyx’s eyes widened, with the lady finally speaking.

“Alyx?”

That was all it took for her to rush over and hug Chell tightly, nearly knocking her off balance, she could only giggle and place her hand on top of the smaller woman's head “God I missed you so much”

“I missed you so much too” Alyx’s muffled voice replied.

 

Gordon watched from the jalopy.  
The man with the AR2 turned to him “...she never mentioned her?”.  
He turned to him and shook his head, and looked back to the reunited couple, smiled, and shrugged his shoulders, and made his way over, until Dog pushed back him and rushed to the give the couple his own hug, catching them by surprise “Dog!” cried Alyx as she was lifted into the air by the cuddly mech, they couldn’t help but laugh at the lovable sweetheart. “I missed you too, Dog!” Chell announced, squeezed against her lover and her pet, and kissed it’s faceplate, making it’s eye shrink in embarrassment.

 

Once he put them down, Chell held Alyx’s arms, and looked deep into her eyes, her loving stare turned to worry, as she realised how pale her lover was, placing her hand upon her cheek “What happened? You look like you really hurt yourself this time”. Alyx put her hand to hers, “I’m fine now, you don’t need to worry”, but she could only fear more as her eyebrows curved further, and realised how cold her stomach was, feeling it and shooting her hand back when she felt what was left of the wounds, “Alyx, what happened?”  
“It’s ok, it’s ok, I promise, the vorts healed me up”  
Chell exhaled from her nose, and looked deep into her beloveds eyes, seeing the long and arduous journey she’d been on, “Don’t scare me like that”.  
“I won’t”  
Her worry faded, taking a deep breath, “Ok”.

Chell wrapped her arm around Alyx, and led her inside, Gordon followed behind, giving the couple the space they needed, it felt good to see her companion so happy after all this suffering, for the first time in a while, a smile grew on his face.

 

Inside, the couple hugged and kissed as the door closed, “So, how’s gardening going?” the rebel asked, Chell shrugged “Going better than I thought, I’ve got some carrots growing, and started a neat lil herb garden”, Alyx cooed in pride and teased “Let’s just hope your cooking is gonna get better too then”. Chell gasped with ironic surprise “How mean are you!”, Alyx started giggling at the sight of her shock, the tall woman turned to Gordon and jokingly asked “Have you been teaching my girlfriend bad manners?”, Gordon looked away blushing.

 

Before they could continue catching up though, the notably grumpy sound of Magnusson’s voice boomed from the speakers, reminding everyone of their laziness and incompetence, Alyx held her forehead “Hasn’t changed a bit, has he”, her lover nodded, and she sighed. As wonderful as it was to be back together, they couldn’t ignore the superportal forever, Alyx rubbed her lovers bicep gently, “I’ll be back later, I’m looking forward to seeing how you’ve changed up your quarters since I last saw you”, she smirked and kissed her again. Chell’s face lit up, “Oh I’m sure you’re gonna love it, built a bed for 2, just for us”, Alyx giggled, with Chell taking the opportunity to kiss her cheek, “I’ll see ya later then”. As her beloved walked off, Chell couldn’t take her eyes off her, knowing she was finally safe, meant everything to her.  
  


* * *

  
Sirens blaring, the sound of gunfire and screaming could be heard throughout the base, “There’s been multiple breaches in the facility! All units must protect my rocket! We can’t let them destroy it!”.

 

She kept rocking back and forth, praying to herself. For the people in the base. For the future of humanity. For her home. For Alyx.  
What could she do except pray.  
All those times performing tests, running in danger, fear, and all she had was that portal gun. She hated it. She hated it with every fibre of her being. She hated the feeling of having her hand inside of it’s uncomfortable chassis. She hated how heavy it felt. She hated how it was just as much of a tool… as she was.  
During her stay, she considered weapons training, looking to defend herself properly, with all the danger in this new world, she needed to, and she would’ve learnt.

 

“Alright, basic training, pick up your firearm, we’ll get you started with safety and handling.”  
Her hands couldn’t stop vibrating, the insides of the mechanism clattered, making her own shaking worse.  
“Hey hey steady that thing might go off”  
She dropped it, her hands still shaking wildly as it lay on the floor.

 

It felt too much like it. Being a tool again. Used and abused, like some sick game.  
Her breathing started to steady, focusing again, she needed to get somewhere safer, her room could be compromised at any moment. Slowly, she got up. Inhale. Exhale.  
“Alert. Anticitizen One engaged. Expunge.”  
‘That voice. No. It couldn’t be, there’s no way in hell, nonono, it can’t...’  
Chell’s fists started shaking again.  
‘No, not this time. You’re not getting away.’  
Not from fear. From anger.  
‘You can hurt me, but you’re not hurting her.’

 

Alyx popped off more shots at the incoming soldiers, managing to strike one in the head, “Dad! Is there any way to shut the silo hatch from here!?”, Eli scrambled to his feet, a rebel helping him up, “There’s no way! It’s in the other silo entirely, Gordon should be able to get to it!”. She gritted her teeth more, firing her pistol rapidly at the soldier that just turned the corner, she feared for the lives of everyone here, she can’t lose another, there’s already been too many.

 

From around the corner, the distinct sound of a helmet being cracked, the broken radio of a soldier voicing it’s last cry, Alyx froze, waiting for whatever was coming around the corner, when suddenly the corpse they’d heard was tossed into view, landing at the edge of the silo pit, momentum allowing it to gently slide in to the bottom of the pit. Footsteps were heard, boots unlike any soldier. Alyx readied her weapon, as the rebel behind her led Eli to a safer spot. Her finger almost on the trigger, eyes focused down the sight, ready for whatever was coming.

 

Her eyes widened, as she was greeted by the one person she wouldn’t want to have be any more involved in this mess, her lover. Her calf had been shot, the band for her ponytail almost fallen off, and her eyes wild with rage. Alyx whispered her name, Chell clutched her right arm, the rebel picked up her last remaining medkit and ran over to her, popping off the injector and inserted it into her leg, slowly regenerating the wound.  
“You’re gonna be ok” Alyx reminded her.  
“I know” she breathed in “Now that I’m with you, I know I am”.  
Alyx looked up into her eyes, that rage she saw dwindled briefly, realising she had this strength hidden in her. “Besides, this isn’t the worst I’ve been hurt” Chell stated, which only led to her lover looking more concerned, as the medkit was emptied, she got up to wrap Chell’s arm around her shoulder, helping her over to where she had positioned herself before.

 

“Can’t believe you were worried about me scaring you, and you pull a stunt like this” Alyx complained, her beloved simply smiled “Thank god you’re ok”, Alyx looked at her, she gave up and smiled back “You’re unbelievable”. Before they could make it back, galloping could be heard from above, the familiar sounds of a hunter. They froze. It drifted however, leaving to the distance. ‘Maybe it’s going to the other silo, but I have to protect my father’ Alyx thought to herself, and continued to move.

 

Suddenly a crash was heard from behind, and they were bashed aside, Alyx losing her grip of Chell, who slammed into the railings of the pit, as her back met the wall. A hunter, devious bastards that they were, managed to catch them off guard. It faced to Chell, threatening to bash her with it’s leg, Alyx shot at the back of it’s head to get it’s attention away from her lover, once it turned, she threw a kick to one of it’s eyes, staggering the synthetic beast backwards slightly. The 2 recovered, back to back, Alyx with her gun raised, and Chell’s fists up.

 

The hunter jumped into a stance, preparing to charge them, Alyx shot one of it’s eyes, but left the beast undeterred, as it launched itself forwards, bashing Chell towards the other side of the Silo, Alyx looked back in terror for her safety, but quickly turned back to her foe, only to be tossed aside herself, pinned down by the creatures leg.

 

Her band for her ponytail finally slid off, gently, her hair finally free, wild from the intensity of the fight, of making her way to her lover, the feeling of this freedom awoke her, and to her horror, the hunter holding down Alyx, threatening to stab it with its talons.

 

‘Alyx. You gave me a life that no-one else would have offered. You gave me freedom in a world I felt more trapped in than ever. You gave me love when I had nothing. Despite all the pain you’ve seen, all that you’ve suffered, and now that I’m here to see it for myself, **I can’t watch this any more.** ’

 

Chell kicked herself away from the wall, shooting herself forward and tackling the beast, knocking it off balance, and it turned her attention back to her. She brought her stance back, Alyx coughed, and tried to get back up, but her wounds had reopened, causing her to fall back down in pain. The hunter charged back towards her, with Chell managing to dodge it, but catch one of it’s legs, braking herself with a stance, toppling it over, before she chucked it back to where it charged from. It tried to scramble to it’s feet, Chell diving forward to bash it’s eye in, but it’s flaying legs kicked her, causing her to cough blood violently as she flew backwards.

 

As the 2 fighters recovered, Alyx dragged herself towards the exit, hoping to give cover fire at a distance, however her wounds said otherwise, cramping her stomach and causing her to convulse more. Chell got herself onto her knees, desperately grabbing at a nearby pipe, the hunter still not up yet, fired some of it’s flechettes at her, missing entirely and landing on the railing. Her eyes grew wide, as the explosions wounded her stomach and slammed her against the wall, the railing shattered. She tried to adjust to this new pain, getting on her feet, hands still firmly held onto the pipe, but to her disastrous luck, the hunter stood, preparing itself for it’s final strike, talons ready.

 

That voice came back.  
“All units. Return to Code 12. Disengage.”  
It made her blood boil.

 

“Ok you son of a bitch” Chell wiped her mouth of blood “Let’s go.”

 

It gave it’s final charge, it’s talons readied.  
Chell swung the pipe from below, knocking the talons out of the way, slashing at the beasts lower eye.  
Taking the opportunity, she desperately tore off one of it’s talons, jabbing it into it’s eyes, causing it to scream wildly.  
As her last act, she grabbed it’s head, pulling it towards the wall and then pushing it towards the pit, it’s final cry as it screamed to the bottom, the sound echoing throughout the chamber.

 

She stood. Breathing heavily. Watching as the light of it’s eyes dimmed more and more out of sight. Her breath became heavier, and fell backwards.  
  


* * *

  
“Oh. It’s you. It’s been a long time. How have you been? I’ve been really busy being dead. You know, after you **murdered me.** ”

‘I’d do it again. And again. And again. Until you won’t haunt me any more. But I have a new demon to kill.’

“You’ll never be rid of me.”

‘No, but I’ll kill this one with my bare hands.’  
  


* * *

  
She could hear.  
Mumbling.  
The voice of an angel.  
Eyelids creaked open.  
A face to match an angel.  
How appropriate.

 

“Chell? Oh my god are you ok?”  
“Alyx?”  
“I’m here, I’m here.”

 

Alyx was face to face with her, tears running down her face, her arm felt heavy, but Chell lifted it to hold her face, still bleary eyed, but knowing she was there. “Oh honey” she croaked out “I’m always ok when you’re here”, Alyx’s simply shed more tears, “Oh shut up”, and wrapped around her arms to kiss her, Chell putting her arm around her. Gordon passed over 2 medkits, his own bruises and blood staining his suit, he tried to give a comforting smile despite his own sufferings, it was the least he could do for them.  
  


* * *

  
“I didn’t know you liked baking?”

Chell cleaned her plate, wiping bits of stray icing off with her finger “It’s more fun than I thought, and honestly there’s something weirdly satisfying about making the batter”, Alyx shrugged “Fair enough, I can’t cook at all, so don’t ask me about it”, she giggled at the sight of her girlfriends chocolate stained lips. She touched the chocolate on her lips with the tip of her fingers, and decided to share it with Alyx with a sneak attack kiss, staining her lips too. “Are you kidding me!?” Alyx cried, while Chell started leaning back onto her bed, trying to hold back her laughter, only leading to Alyx to dive forward and kiss her chocolatey lips back.

 

She pulled back to look into Chell’s eyes, so full of love, it’s amazing to think they could feel this deeply about each other in such a short span of time. Chell’s smile faded however, as she remembered they didn’t have much time together.  
“So this is it then, you’re going to find the Borealis?”  
Alyx sighed, “Yeah, but I’ll bring you back a souvenir though” she shrugged.  
“You better, and if it’s an Aperture one, I’ll smash it myself”  
“How about we smash it together?  
“I like your thinking”  
“I like you”  
“I like you too”

They shared another kiss between each other, that felt as if it lasted forever, if only it did though, as Alyx forced herself to part her lips, and look into her sad eyes “Thank you... and I’m sorry... that I have to go so soon, but we can’t let this wait”. Chell placed her hand onto her cheek, “It’s ok, go be a hero, go be my hero”, the rebel couldn’t help but smile at that, “You’re my hero too, Mrs. ‘Hunter Wrestler’”, she giggled at the name, and sighed deeply. It felt so hard to tear each others gaze away from each other, but it had to be done.

Alyx let go, and got onto her feet, walking out of the door, adjusting her jacket on the way out, before turning back to Chell one last time, smirking and blowing a kiss, “See ya”. The blushing woman knelt on the bed could only squeak out “See ya too”.

 

Watching her walk away again was more difficult than the first time. This time though, it felt like things were going to be ok. She could return here whenever, to her loving arms. There’ll be a new cake waiting for her. For the first time in far too long, it felt like things were going to be alright.

 

It’s going to be alright.


End file.
